Typewriting machine



E. A. BURNS.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED Aui;.18,1921.

1 ,428,2 1 3 Patented Sept. 5, 1922 Patented Sept. 5, 1922.

EDWARD A. BURNS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO UNDERWOOD TYPE- WRITER CQMPANY, 01" NEW YORK, N. Y.', A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

Application filed August 18, 1921. Serial No. 493,192.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it knownthat I, EDWARD A. BURNS, a citizen of the United States residing in Hartford, in the countyof l lartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Typewriting Machines, of which the following is a specification. v

In typewriting' machines, the ,types are operated by key-levers which are usually provided with guides to support the levers against the lateral thrust of the fingers of the operator upon the keys; these guides being usually as close to the keys as possible to avoid lateral bending of the levers, which are usually made thin, and, consequently, laterally weak, to save .weight. This invention relates to the construction of the guide-comb.

It is the usual practice to punch or cut lateral slots in a plate of metal to form it into the guide-comb, but this does not result in the production of guides of such smoothness as is needed for guiding ke levers, which have considerable length of strokes, in which they are guided by the comb, so that any rough condition of the guide, such as will be due to punching out the slots, would prevent or would render impossible the desired freedom of movement of the lever, which will make two strokes for every type impression, so that even little roughness at this point would make a noticeable difference in the ease, liveliness and speed of the type-action, and even though this obstruction is trifling, still it would be multiplied because of the thousands of these strokes hourly which would be obtained during the operation of the machine.

The main object of the invention is to provide at small cost a guide-comb having rigid teeth which are smooth on the lever-guiding surfaces.

To obtain this result, the teeth of the comb are stamped out individually from sheet-metal, each tooth consisting of a blade or guide portion, and a hilt, tang or shank forming an attaching portion, whereby the teeth are made attachable at their upper ends to a bar which forms the back or main portion of the comb, and by which the comb may be supported 011 the frame of the machine. One of the features of the invention is the construction of this bar, which which will be a desideratum in a may be in the form of a sheet-metalstrip having notches cut in itstop and bottom edges to be utilized'in attaching'the teeth to the bar. Each tooth when stamped out is in the form of a blank of considerable width, and has a blade por tion which is folded longitudinally, so as to have two sides,

mg exceptionally smooth, and, if desired, may be subjected to smoothing and finishthesesides being the. guiding surfaces for the key-levers and being operations after being folded, so as to eliminate every possible roughness. The

head portion or, hilt of the tooth is also folded together with the blade portion thereof, and tongues, formed upon" said head portion, project rearwardly in .position to fit into the upper and lower notches i in the bar. These tongues are then folded or pressed around the teeth or lugs formed by the notches on-the upper and lower edges of the bar. When these tongues are thus firmly clenched or closed over the teeth on the bar, the guiding tooth is rigidly supported and cannot become loose. Thewidth of the guiding tooth is considerable, and, owing to its channel shape, it lS'GX- tremely rigid; while the whole device is very compact, occupying little, if any, more room than the usual punched-out comb, and

typewritespecially near the keyboard The metal of the attached teeth ing machine, thereof.

may be relatively thin, whereby it can be punched and bent successfullyan'd at low cost, while it mayalso be of high grade and devoidof cutting edges or rough portions; while, owing to the aforesaid channel shape of the teeth, it has requisite stiffness notwithstanding its thinness.

Other features and advantages will here inafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front-to -rea'r vertical section of the lower and forward part of an Underwood typewriting machine having the guidecomb of the present invention embodied therein.

Figure 2 is an enlarged front perspective View of the left end part of the guide-comb as viewed from the right and above.

ill

Figure 4 is a rear perspective view of one of the comb teeth betore its attachment to the combback or bar.

Figure 5 is a plan view oi": a stampedout blank from which the tooth shown in Figure l may be formed.

In the accompanying drawings, the in vention is shown as embodied in a standard Underwood typewriting machine having typekeys 1 carried by the forward free ends of usual flat and comparatively thin metal keylevers 2, which, at their rear ends, may be suitably pivoted in a usual machine frame 3. In the Underwood typewrit' ig machithe guide-comb for supporting the y-levers 2 against lateral thru t is located ust at the back of the upper or rearmost row oi keys 1, and that is the location of the improved guide-comb of the present invention.

According to the present invention, the guide-comb comprises a comparatively thick and stron sheetmetalst-rip or flat bar it, which forms the back oi the comb, and at its opposite ends is irovided with. holes 5, one oi? which appears in l' igures :2 and 3, and by means of which the comb may be firmly secured in place in the usual. way on the machine .t'rame 3. As a means tor attaching the individual lever-guiding teeth to the comb-back l. this back or supporting bayis provided with openings, shown in the form of notches 6 punched or cut along its upper edge, and similar diametrically opposite openings or notches 7 are provided. along its lower edge, so as to leave upwardly-projecting teeth or lugs 8 between the upper notches 6, and similarly to leave downwardly-projecting teeth or lugs 9 between the lower notches 7.

In forming the individual comb teeth, blanks, such as the one shown in Figure 5, are stamped out of relatively thin sheetmetal, considerably thinner than the metal plate or strip from which the comb-back or tooth-carrying supporting 3211." "-l' was "formed. Each of these blanks is of considerable width and has a lower comparatively wide blade portion 10 and an upper attaching portion or hilt comprising a comparatively narrow tang or shank 1 1, at the upper end of which there are provided a pair o'l tongues 12 appearing in the blank as oppositely-extending wings, and at its lower end, adjacent to the plate 10, the tang or shank 11 is provided with a similar pair of tongue forming wings 13. By a second stamping operation the flat blank shown in Figure 5 is bent or folded longitudinally throughout its length to the form shown in Figure 4:, in which the two pairs of tongues 12 and 13 project rearwardly, and in which the lateral margins or edge portions at the plate lO-extend rearwardly in the form of flanges ll, so that the guide blade 10 is now oii'ch annel shape. It is to be noted that the lower pair of attaching tongues 13 are continuous with the upperends of he channel sides or flanges 14:, thereby considerably strengthening the comb tooth at its point of attachment, where strength is most needed.

In the assembling operation, the upper pair of rearwardlyirojecting attaching tongues 12 are inserted into adjacent notches 6 to embrace one of the lugs 8 on the upper edge of the come-back or bar 4, and the lower pair of rearwurdly-project attaching tongues 13 are similarly insert d in acent notches "T to embrace an intervening lower lug 9 on the bar the or shanlrll of the attaching portion of t e comb-back now lying flat against the front face of the bar at. Next, by a further SiJEUlTOlllQ' or pressing o1 eration, the two pairs oi rear jecting attaching tongues 12 and clenched or turned over inwardly ii contact with the rear faces oi"- the r 9, respectively, tl e ends of the tongues 12 now forn'iing terminal hooks and the folded ends of the tongues 12-3 iornr ing similar hooks l6, shown in Figures 2 and 3, whereby the lever-guiding comb teeth are i'irmly and rigidly supported upon the comb-back or bar I The outer surfaces of the lever .iding flanges or sides 14 will present a. olthe smoothness of the smoothly finished sheetmetal from which the or ginal blanks, such as shown in Figure 5, have been stamped, so that the key-levers 2 will move freely and easily between the guidii'ig surfaces of the channeLshaped guide blades 10 of adjacent comb teeth, as shown in Figure 3, In the normal position of the key-levers 2 appearing in Figures 1 and 3, the upper margins or edges or" these levers enter into the notches 7 between the lower attaching tongues 13 of adjacent comb teeth, these tongues 13, as hereinbefore noted, forming at. their base continuations of the guide flanges 14.

The improved comb oi the present invention is mountedon the machine frame 8 similarly to the usual piuicheihout comb hereto fore employed, that is to say, the comb-bark. or tooth-carrying supporting bar extends transversely across the frame 3 just above the key-levers 2 immediately at the rear of the upper or rearmost row of keys 1, and the lever-guiding channel-shaped comb teeth,

each comprising the guide blade 10 having the rearwardly-extending guide flanges I l, project downwardly between the key-levers 2 from the lower edge of the flat comb-back or supporting bar 4.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A guiding comb for key-levers, comprising a flat supporting bar vprovided with openings, and individual comb teeth having a lever-guiding blade portion provided With turned-over edges to form smooth guiding surfaces and having an attaching portion provided with attaching tongues passing through said opening and turned-over or clenched to secure the teeth upon the bar.

2. A guiding comb for key-levers, comprising a flat supporting bar provided with lateral notches, and individual comb teeth having a lever-guiding blade portion provided with turned-over edges to form smooth guiding surfaces, and having an attaching portion provided With attaching tongues engaging in said notches and clenched at their ends to secure the teeth on the bar.

3. A guiding comb for key-levers, comprising a flat comparatively thick and strong supporting bar provided at its opposite edges With notches, and individual leverguiding teeth of comparatively thin material having each a blade or guiding portion of channel shape of Which the flanges ofthe channel form the guiding surfaces, and having an attaching portion provided With an upper pair of attaching tongues engaging in the notches in the upper edge of the supporting bar, and having a lower pair of at taching tongues engaging in the notches in the lower edge of the supporting bar, the ends of said tongues being turned over or clenched to secure the tooth in place on the bar. i

4. A guiding comb for key-levers, comprising a fiat comparatively thick sheetsides or flanges of the channel form the guiding surfaces, and having an attaching portion provided at its free end With a terminal pair of attaching tongues bent around one of said lugs on the bar, and provided 'With a second pair of attaching tongues formed continuous With the flanges of the channel forming the blade and bent around one of said lugs at the opposite edge of, said bar.

levers operatively mounted in a machine frame, of alever-guiding comb comprising a flat com-bar adapted to be attached at its end to said frame, said comb-bar having notches in its opposite edges, and lever-guiding comb teeth formed of sheet-metal each having a guide blade provided with turnedover edges forming smooth guiding surfaces, and each toothhaving an attaching portion lying against one of the flat sides of the bar and provided With attaching tongues engaging in the notches at the opposite edges of said bar, said tongues being turned over or clenched to secure the tooth firmly in place on said bar. i

EDWARD A. BURNS. Witnesses:

FRANK A. CooK, LYMAN D. BRIGHT.

5. The combination With a bank of key- 

